Analysis W4: "Candide"

Is that All You See

Candide is a tale that allows you as a reader, while reading to observe and conclude on various concepts, such as, Optimism, human reasoning, orthodox religion, Deism (God created the world and then stands back, allowing nature to follow its own laws while never intervening), the need for war and disaster as a way of balance, and social class (wealthy/impoverished).

However, as the story kept on unfolding, I saw how I had disregarded Voltaire’s depiction of the women in his story. They are put in burdened circumstances; portrayed as docile and submissive, not to mention they are sexualized throughout the story. This is normally how women are stereotyped in numerous plays, stories, and motion pictures. However, Voltaire uses this common characterization to expose the exploitation of women during the eighteenth century. Women had no genuine authority, as we see in Candide, regardless of their riches, nobility, or beauty.  

Cunegonde is the young and beautiful daughter of one of the mightiest Lords of Westphalia (355). Our first perception is that she is not too bright, as she sits watching what she believes to be Dr. Pangloss giving an experimental physics lesson to her mother’s attractive maid, when it is obvious that they are having sex (356). She becomes hot, bothered, and curious about the physical interactions between a man and a woman- “Miss Cunégonde had a natural bent for the sciences, she watched breathlessly the repeated experiments which were going on; she saw clearly the doctor’s sufficient reason, observed both cause and effects, and returned to the house in a distracted and pensive frame of mind (356). We also see her play the damsel in distress role as she drops her handkerchief anticipating that the young Candide would pick it up. Afterwards, they are caught in a passionate kiss behind a screen by the Baron and, Candide is kicked out the castle. We do not observe Cunegonde’s stern objection to her father’s actions nor do we see her bold confession of her feelings for Candide. Instead, Cunegonde being weak-kneed at her father’s notion -faints, only to wake up to a stern slapping. It is clear she has no say and even if she did that no one would care. She is a woman and her only job is to be submissive.

She is also a helpless victim of a brutal rape and then taken as a prison of war. She is sold as a commodity of pleasure because her captures found her to be attractive. She must share her bed between two men the Inquisitor and the Jew, “Finally my Jew, fearing for his life, struck a bargain by which the house and I would belong to both as joints tenants; the Jew would get Monday’s, Wednesdays, and the Sabbath, the inquisitor would get the other days of the week” (366).  Voltaire informs his readers that women who were taken as prisoners of war during this era could live a comfortable life with royal benefits, on the off chance they were attractive. However, he does not stray us far from the obvious truth that they were just sex slaves. Outside of her physical appearance, there is no mention of any other honorable attribute in the reading about the fare Cunegonde.

Once more, another woman is introduced, she is a daughter of a Pope and Princess of Palestrina. She too lived a royal life and wanted for nothing.  She is referred to as the Old Woman. She was once beautiful and was contributed with having charm and talent. Yet, her appearance is the core interest in the story, “I grew in beauty, in charm, in talent. Already I was inspiring the young men to love; my breast was formed- and what a breast! White, firm, with the shape of the Venus de Medici; and what eyes! What lashes, what black brows! What fire flashed from my glances and outshone the glitter of stars, as the local poets used to tell me! The women who helped me dress and undress fell into ecstasies, whether they looked at me from in front or behind; and all the men wanted to be in their place” (369). She was engaged to be married to a handsome ruling prince, when his mistress, we can presume out of jealously, poisoned him. The princess and her mother being full of despair over his death embarks on a trip to one of the mother’s property but was overtaken by pirates. It’s ironic that in the recalling of her horrific story of being grief stricken by her fiancés death, taken captive by pirates, violated, and her mother’s death the emphasis is placed on her appearance – “My mother was still very beautiful; our maids of honor, our mere chambermaids, were more charming than anything one could find in all Africa. As for myself, I was ravishing, I was loveliness and grace supreme, and I was a virgin” (370). Voltaire, in his own witty brilliance tells us that there is still truth in satire. The women’s position was not of any real importance in a society that was dominated by men. They were belittled to nothing more than an object of sex!

Cunegonde and the Old Woman were once of noble status due to their relationship with extraordinary, wealthy, and high-ranking men. However, had their appearance been less desirable the story of Candide might have ended differently.

Voltaire. “Candide” The Norton Anthology World Literature. Martin Puchner. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 352-373. Book.